Posts Tagged ‘recycling’

Inspiring Change One Person at a Time

Sometimes we think we have to change governments and corporations in order to see environmental change, but change is just as powerful when it happens one person at a time. And sometimes it’s easier to do. 

About a month ago, I made two posts about the environmental efforts of SunChips, a snack food company. I had become excited when I discovered, quite by accident, that one of my favorite chips was packaged by a company with a deep environmental commitment. It’s always nice when you discover something that you love anyway has a secondary environmental benefit. Makes me feel better about eating junk food. 

Yesterday, I ran into a guy who was eating a bag of them. I joked, “Hey, did you know that SunChips’ packaging is one-third compostable?”

He immediately perked up. “Really? I didn’t know that. Cool!” 

Then he added thoughtfully. “I enjoy using the environment. But I don’t know much about saving it. I drive a diesel truck.” 

Composting: inspiring behavior change

The opportunity for San Francisco’s composting effort will be to imaginatively engage us in a herculean effort to educate AND motivate compliance.

Crafty Reuse: Ten Projects for Plastic Bottles

We use billions of plastic bottles every year, at a huge environmental expense. Sure, you can recycle them and feel a bit better knowing that they’ll be turned into products like Ecospun felt, but recycling requires energy and raw materials and not all plastics can even be recycled.

Why not divert all that plastic from the waste stream entirely by turning those old bottles into something new? Here are ten plastic bottle craft ideas to get you going!

The 10 Greenest Cities in the U.S.

The Mother Nature Network reviews their pick of the top ten greenest cities in the United States.

Rock on San Francisco: The Nation’s Most Comprehensive Recycling Program

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I just read that San Francisco, in another moment of environmental health leadership (brilliance, I would call it), just launched the most ambitious recycling program in the nation. For a city that already diverts 72 percent of its trash from landfills, San Francisco didn’t sit on its laurels. Mayor Gavin Newsom promoted the law that adds mandatory composting to the program and forwards the goal of achieving 75 percent diversion and zero waste by 2020.

Hydrogen Fuel Tanks Made from Chicken Feathers Could Save $5.5 Million

Chicken Feathers

Scientists have discovered a remarkable, unexpected and cheap way to store hydrogen fuel– using carbonized chicken feather fibers.

The problem of storing hydrogen as fuel has traditionally been a perplexing and expensive dilemma. For instance, a car with a 20-gallon hydrogen storage tank made from carbon nanotubes or metal hydrides– two of the best ideas so far– would add $5.5 million or $30k respectively to the price of that vehicle.

A storage tank made from carbonized chicken feathers, however, would only mark up the cost a measly $200. The green bio-material would also help solve the problem of how to dispose of the 2.7 billion kilograms of chicken feathers generated each year by commercial poultry operations.

San Francisco Signs Nation’s First Mandatory Composting Law

san francisco compost bin

Composting will prevent tons of material from going to the landfill, create healthy soil for our local farms and help us fight global warming.

Today at the Farmer’s Market in front of San Francisco’s iconic Ferry Building I am signing the nation’s first mandatory composting law. It’s the most comprehensive recycling and composting legislation in the country and the first to require residents and businesses to compost food scraps.

Recycling In San Francisco Made Easy With The iPhone

San Francisco created the “EcoFinder” iPhone App to help residents recycle and dispose of materials.  The open data philosophy behind the app is Government 2.0 at work.

With the release today of San Francisco’s first iPhone app based on a City data feed, recycling just got much easier for our residents.

San Franciscans already lead the nation in recycling – in May we announced a 72% diversion rate of all materials going to the landfill – but we want to do more. Last week we passed the nation’s first mandatory recycling and composting laws. We’ve pledged to recycle 75% of the materials that would otherwise go to the landfill by 2010 and zero waste by 2020.

We will only reach these lofty goals together — with the help of all our residents. That’s why the City’s environment department (@SFEnvironment) has launched an iPhone version of the popular web-based EcoFinder tool.

Game On: San Francisco Board of Supervisors OKs Mandatory Recycling

San Francisco to Require Recycling and Food Waste Composting for All BuildingsSkins vs. shirts, Army vs. Navy, Spy vs. Spy: now you can add San Francisco vs. Food Scraps to the all-star list of classic matchups.  Not satisfied with its stunning recycling rate of 70%, the city of the future is on its way to requiring all residential and commercial building owners to sign up for recycling and composting services, including food scrap composting.  This move could boost the city’s recycling rate to 90%.  The San Francisco Board of Supervisors just passed the ordinance on a first reading today, and it will go back for a second reading and final vote next week.

By Mandate of the Mayor: San Francisco Board Passes Mandatory Recycling and Compost Ordinance

Refuse collection has been mandatory in San Francisco since the 1930s, so perhaps it came as no surprise when the nation’s leader in recycling passed a mandatory recycling and compost ordinance on June 9, but San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom still commended the Board of Supervisors for its passage of the ordinance.

Green Crafter Profile: So She Sews

I met Brooke Bennett of So She Sews at the Indie Craft Experience last weekend and fell instantly in love with her designs.

Like a lot of crafters, Brooke grew up in a handmade household. Her mom even ran a crafty business in the 80’s selling handmade “hair poofs.” Mom’s craftiness didn’t stop there! She also made a lot of Brooke’s clothes, including “this crazy pair of poofy overalls” out of old curtains.

Now, Brooke makes clothes, accessories and housewares constructed out of repurposed materials, like vintage fabric and linens, for her own crafty business. She sees vintage and found materials as a way to avoid “contributing to the raw textile industries which aren’t always fair to their workers overseas.”

I’m also totally digging her clutches and pouches made from fused plastic bags that would have been headed for the trash bin. I couldn’t even tell that it was plastic at first glance!

Brooke says she draws her inspiration mainly from the materials she finds and her “love of indie style.” She takes some of her cues from “international street fashion blogs like hel-looks.com.” Put it all together and you get beautiful, unique pieces like this teal and black dress that I’m coveting:

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